Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Week 11 Blog

While reading "Orbiting", it took me a while to be able to follow the story. It has a very different tone and style. It is almost as if some times when she is speaking she uses dialogue with quotations, and others she just fits it into the paragraph. It was really hard for me to pick up on the characters as well as dialogue. The short story almost seems like it is missing a few pages at the beginning where the story is introduced. As you read through the story it will randomly give background information when necessary, but can be confusing.

When Ro says, "How else will i know you are as beautiful as I think you are? I would not want an unprized woman," it really took me off guard. Rindy seemed completely fine with the situation, yet it doesn't seem like her personality to admire that remark. Earlier she spoke of how her mother and father view each other, and how her mother told to her to find a man. But the men she found did not seem like "keeepers" to me.

Transitions are slim to none throughout the story. It jumps quickly from scene to scene and at times I was unable to follow the order of events, or their meanings.

One scene that really stuck out to me is when she says, "I cringe as he spells his name. My parents are so parochial." I feel like this shows the different ethnicities, and how we all seem to have mindsets and stereotypes. Also, this simple line really develops the characters. A few lines later she says, "I make the kiss really sexy so they'll know I've slept with this man." It shows Renata is rebellious and not afraid to break the mold her parents often place people in. I have never thought of how men stand differently in different cultures, but I would love to know if this is true, and the meaning behind it.

The very end was written very well. It takes a turn of tone from nonchalant to in depth and meaningful. It says how Ro has come from a culture of hurt and pain as she describes the scars on his back. This whole comparison comes from Renata carving the turkey. As she carves the different parts, she relates them to different aspects of Ro.